Finally
by the yellow submarine
Summary: Sometimes it takes a while for the inevitable to happen.


**My first one-shot :) I'm in love with the characters of Scorpius and Rose.**

**Let me know what you think.**

**Rose**

My first thought: _"It's fucking cold."_

My second thought: _"The doorbell's ringing."_

It might have been the other way around – but somehow, forty seconds or so later, I was rolling off the dusty mattress and crawling to the front door. It was an effort I didn't particularly appreciate having to suffer at four in the morning, but hey. I had moved into my not-so-glamorous apartment only weeks before, and being the only one (apart from my flat-mate Erin, who never got up earlier than absolutely necessary) to open the door at four am, it was an effort I grudgingly accepted.

"He likes you."

"What?" I pushed my fringe out of my eyes and focused on Albus Potter's face. Al was always deathly pale, his green eyes wide and shameless, giving the impressing that he was in the constant presence of a ghost. He tugged distractedly on the strap of his messenger bag, the bright eyes behind his glasses darting in every direction that wasn't near my face.

"Scorpius."

I stiffened involuntarily. Merlin, his name still made me nervous.

"He likes you." Al repeated. His knuckles were turning white, he was gripping the strap so tightly. "And he'll probably kill me for telling you, but – he's a twat."

"I agree." I muttered, trying to ignore the blush which was no doubt working its way up my freckled face.

Al smiled a little, seeming relieved – maybe that I wasn't totally flipping out at him. "Yeah well, he doesn't seem to want to learn. But you know, he asked for you and all, and I just have this suspicious little inkling that he won't say shit that actually _means_ something-"

"He asked you to get me?"

I had caught him mid-breath. He nodded slowly, before rubbing a hand over his eyes, his glasses shifting. "The idiot – he got himself thrown into hospital."

"_Hospital_?" Even I could hear the sharp alarm in my voice. "Why? What happened?"

Al didn't seem to be able to contain the smile breaking out on his face. "He was on that old bike of his. My Mum drove into him by accident in the muggle contraption my Dad bought for her last week when he started swerving all over the damn place-"

"Your _Mum_?"

"Yeah-"

"Albus, stop smiling please."

Al slapped a hand over his mouth. "He's fine." His muffled voice escaped from behind his palm.

"Good." I muttered, folding my arms around my stomach. "Otherwise I would kill you."

"_Me_?" Al looked appalled. "My _mother_ was the one who drove into him!"

"I can't kill your Mum." I rolled my eyes. "She's nice."

"Charming." Al sighed. "Anyway, he's there, he wants you – he was on sedatives, mind you, so he might have let all of this let slip anyway – but I thought you should know. Cause considering the way you blush crazy every time he breathes-"

"Bullshit."

"-and the way you say his name like it's holy-"

"I do not!"

"-and the way-"

"_Albus_!"

He grinned. "Just keep it in mind, yeah?"

I nodded.

"Good." He handed me a slip of paper with the address of the hospital. "The sooner you're there, the better."

...

I wasn't particularly fond of hospitals. To be honest, who is? Even healers and Muggle Doctors must shiver when they smell the place. There are two smells that I absolutely cannot stand – roses, due to overexposure of rose-scented presents (thanks kindly to my name), and hospitals.

Scorpius, I was told, was in the room near the end of the wing. He would probably be able to go home later that day, and they had no spare hospital beds available at four in the morning for idiots who rode rickety old bikes which are evidently way past their sell-by date.

No one was really interested in me. Holding my breath so I didn't have to smell anything weird, I made my way to what I hoped was the correct room, without anybody stopping me or protesting about visiting times.

"You took your time."

I narrowed my eyes at Scorpius as I closed the door behind me. I left one palm resting on the handle while I scrupulously examined him.

He was pale, but that was nothing new. There were bruises under his eyes and he was bent over on the chair like he was close to collapsing.

Then I noticed things which had little to do with his well being. His dishevelled hair, his long fingers delicately entwined, his crooked smile, his grey eyes which followed my every glance. I realised this and shoved down any possibility of a blush, probably unsuccessfully.

"You're alright then." I announced at last, my voice as steady as it would get under the circumstances. It was rare that I would ever be in a room alone with Scorpius, even though he and I had found grounds for an even closer friendship over the past few months. He had too many friends to get around, and I rarely attempted to burst his sociable bubble.

"Yeah." He grinned slowly. I should have been used to this by now, but somehow it still managed to make me jolt slightly – why on _earth _did he have to smile so agonizingly _slowly_? As if he were roping you to him, hypnotizing you, his silver eyes flashing mischievously all the while, as if he knew exactly what he was doing to you.

I say 'you', but I was worried that it might only have been me. I had never seen anyone else get flustered over his smile the way I did.

Come to think of it, I had never seen him smile that slowly at anyone else apart from me.

But I didn't dwell on those thoughts. Thoughts like that would drive you insane, especially when they involved witty, charismatic and desperately unreliable boys like Scorpius.

"Good." I managed a smile. "You're a plonker though. Why would you ever ride that thing in the vicinity of a moving vehicle?"

Scorpius chuckled. "I felt impelled." His smile widened when he saw me raise a dubious eyebrow. "It was like a greater force was beckoning me to ride the bike. Al's Mum just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

I rolled my eyes. "Poor woman. She must wonder why Al ever made friends with a little horror like you."

"I often wonder the same thing." Scorpius said. "With some people. Like you." I swallowed as subtly as I could. "Why _are _you friends with me?"

"This is you supposing that we're friends." I pointed out.

"Alright then." He shifted into a more relaxed looking position, hands folded over his stomach. "Let's _pretend_ we've been friends for the past six odd years. Now tell me, if this was the case, what would the reason be for your liking of me?"

"Supposing I liked you." I fought back a grin.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at me. "Just supposing."

"I don't really like you much to be-"

"_Rose_."

I would have come up with another undoubtedly witty comeback, but Scorpius looked strangely _curious_ – as if he actually cared about my answer.

I swallowed again, pressing my lips together and urging some coherent thought to enter my head. "Um... you're kind of funny, I guess-"

"_Kind of_?" Scorpius scoffed. "More like hilari-"

"And pig-headed."

He grinned again, but said nothing more. The silence itself prompted me to continue in a halting tone.

"You care. About people. You like everyone to be happy. And that's nice. In my opinion, anyway." The mocking smile had slipped right off his face, and was replaced with unconcealed wonderment. "You make me laugh. And you're there when I need you. Everyone likes you. Which has to count for something." I gave a small smile, controlling myself from going on, even though there were hundreds of other things I could say.

Scorpius sat up straighter in his seat. "That's funny, cause Albus tells me I'm the most depressing human being he has ever encountered."

There was a pause.

"He usually says it when we're talking about you."

It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I became painfully aware of my heating skin and the itchy material of my jumper and the longer strands of my fringe obscuring my vision of the horrifyingly gorgeous boy in front of me.

_Are you trying to drive me crazy?_

I still hadn't spoken about a minute later, and Scorpius finally leaned back and raised a hand to beckon me to him.

"C'mere."

I could think of quite a few of reasons why this was a bad idea.

But I did it anyway.

Once I was in his reach, my heart practically reaching seizure point, he stretched out a long arm and wound it around my waist, dragging me down onto his lap.

_Oh Merlin._

I perched nervously on his knee, holding as much weight as I possibly could off him – and I prayed for mercy. I was probably bright red everywhere. A study in red. Beetroot red. Tomato red. It was like some kind of great cosmic joke, giving me unforgivably red locks _and_ sensitive skin.

His cold hand on my neck startled me out of my thoughts.

"Will you just relax?"

_Are you fucking kidding me?_

"I'm completely relaxed." I muttered, shifting further away from him if that was even possible. I felt like whimpering when he stubbornly pulled me back. Despite my layers of clothing, those same freezing cold hands I had been subject to for the past however-many years were giving me goosebumps all over the place. I wanted to slap myself. No other boy had this kind of effect on me.

It was just downright _embarrassing._

"Rose."

He was too close. Way, way too close. His slightly damp lips touched the edge of my ear, the warmth of his breath seeping deliciously over my face. It was enough to make a girl want to cry.

"Yep?" I cringed inwardly at my soft voice.

"Want to know why _I_ like _you_?"

_Not particularly. I'd rather go home and wallow in self pity._

"Mmm..."

"You always have some kind of witty comeback to my jokes."

_Why is his voice always so bloody _low_ when he speaks to me?_

"You can make me smile, even when it's the last thing I want to do."

_Merlin, he's being nice. I can't handle this. I really cannot handle this._

"You blush constantly, like it's essential to your survival."

_Thanks for pointing that out, mate..._

"And you're-"

I spun around suddenly so we were face-to-face – albeit slightly too close for comfort. I could smell him so _clearly_ – and as much as I tried to avoid the grey orbs following my every move, they were like magnets, impossible to escape.

"Scorp, is there a point to all this?" I asked quietly.

_Because it's driving me nuts._

Then, something terrible happened.

His eyes flickered dangerously close to the region which involved my lips...

This was what people did when they wanted to kiss someone.

I had seen it in muggle movies.

I had seen it when passing my hormonal classmates at school.

_He was looking at my lips!_

And at that moment, when everything else going on in the universe seemed to slip away into a black hole of meaninglessness, Albus Potter's words came back to me.

_He likes you..._

_He doesn't seem to want to learn..._

_Just keep it in mind..._

_He likes you..._

Dear Merlin. Could it be true? Was it possible that Albus wasn't just trying to be philosophically observant and coming up with a load of bull?

"I hope so." It was Scorp speaking again. His voice broke slightly, his pupils darkening. Our chests were pressed together, my fingers gripping lightly on his sleeves, his gentle hands holding my waist...

A slow, unmistakable tingle worked its way up my warming body.

I leaned into him further, watching his eyes widen, feeling his fingers tighten, smelling his scent strengthen...

"I'm kind of weird." I whispered, barely audibly

I watched as Scorpius's mouth slowly curved upwards, melting everything inside me for good. His eyes twinkled slightly, and I could see my blushing, smiling reflection in them.

"So am I." He whispered back, before lifting his hand to cup the back of my neck, brushing a thumb across the length of my cheekbone, and pulling my head towards him as my eyes fluttered closed.

And all I could think was...

**Scorpius**

_Finally._

_I'm kissing her..._

**Ahh DONE.**

**Review, pwease? :)**


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